The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1887-07-06
MISS LOOKABOUT.
An observant woman's Notes About Towd
in New York.

An Observant WOman's Notes About Towd
in New York.
1t does seem as though maidenly ingen-
uousness has been abolished in New
York, so consciously are our pretty girls
on exhibition. At public concert,
we were one night given the bal
cony scene from Romeo and Ju-
liet" 1t was an amateur performance.
Romeo wore modern evening dress,
without wrinkle in it anywhere, and
the vest was so wide open that he would
inevitably have fallen out of 1t If the
fastenings of his shirt bosom had given
way. His forehead was shaded by
nice little bang, his whiskers were tie
by actual count on the two sides of the
parting, and his awfully-bored-don't-
you-know expression was probably
study from Lord ChiHington. In pros
cenium box sat Juliet, artfully posed in
afront corner facing the assemblage. She
was in her first season. Romeo was
scarcely as impetuous as usual, but he was
just as bold as they make 'em. He picked
his way between seats, past knees and over
feet, until he stood close under the bal
cony, Juliet leaning over to him. Their
talk was all pantomime to the spectators,
of course, but so pretty to look at And,
oh, SO vivaciousi He struck shapely at
titudes. She posed picturesquely ON her
side of the rail, and put her features
through their entire range of expressive
grimaces. The amused spectators
watched this audacious show for ten
minutes. Juliet dismissed Romeo with
stroke of her feathered fan on his fore
head that wouldn't have broken the
wing of butterfly, but might, fancy,
have thrown the dear fellow into brain
fever.
Artificiality has seemingly reached a
climax, and false beauty is on sale at
every turn. But the woman who adver-
tises her identifying Office" where
wrinkles are effaced, forms developed,
eyes frightened, and compilations made
perfect" deals in lies only. l went to
her for the sake of the paragraph which
felt sure she would afford for this let
ter. She is shrewd one and not likely
to go to the poor-house right away She
is ugly, suppose, and therefore keeps
out of callers sight, so that they can't
ask her why she don't beautify herself.
The person who met me in the reception
room was a glorious girl of seventeen to
twenty, with a simply perfect figure,
beautiful face, skin like alabaster,
teeth of spotless white, soulful eyes,
and wealth of ripping, golden hair.
Now, am not such fool as l look, and
when she coolly informed me, in the
course of conversation, that her beauty
was mainly the result of using the
madame's preparations, had hard work
to conceal my certainty that she lied.
She went on to specify that her hair was
lightened, that her teeth were whitened,
that her eyes were frightened, that her
complexion was heightened, that her
waist was Strengthened, and all by the
use of madaRes marvellous prepare
tons. ] wondered what wages this
beautiful creature demanded for denying
the naturalness of her charms. All the
artifice that she had employed was clean
illness. attention to health and the wear
ing of becoming dress. Her hair had
not been bleached, nor her cheeks
painted; and the shapeliness of her
form was nature itself, aided by tight
corset. listened to the tale with all the
show | could make of believing it. /
did not contradict her assertions as to
her own artiiciality, and / gravely put
down the prices of all the articles that
she said needed If would be as per-
fectly beautiful as herself, the aggregate
cost being 1874 so, and said I would think
1t over. But l have never been there
since.
Sometimes one of our artificial and
clever beauties wastes her powers. 1t
was so with my friend Eliza at charity
fair the other day. A. pale, quiet gen.
tleman, evidently of acute sensibility,
stopped in front of her. She sad to
herself that he should never go from
there until he had bought ticket in
rattle that she had in charge. She smiled
deliberately, to begin with, but not too
WIDE, because she meant the smile to
stop just short of her filled tooth. She
lifted her eyebrows enough to give an
arch expression, but not so much as to
loosen the structure of her hair, which
was gummed in her forehead. She
dropped her eyelids little to produce a
look Of occurrences, but not quickly, for
that might have seemed like mild wink.
The gentleman manifestly became an in
slant admirer, and leaned on the coun-
ter. She held out the prize, with three
perfect fingers Tapped over 1t and the
that had one scar.
"There are hundred chances" she
said politely, land chance costs only
dollar
He looked at her with what seemed
speeches. admiration.
"They sell just such as this in the
storec for $685. she went on, land we are
putting il up at q valuation of only
hundred-that is, a hundred chances, at
dollar apiece"
He shifted his weight to his other leg
and elbow, and gazed with rapt attention
into her face.
"Of course you can't wear it yourself"
she continued, putting all possible per-
suasiveness into her tones, because 1t 10
for lady but no doubt you have sis
ter to whom you could give tor" and
here she held her breath, SO as to bring
about a blush, ''it would be an appropri-
ate gift for a sweetheart" She raised
her eyes to his face to see what effect had
been produced, and observed that he was
fascinated One more effort, she thought,
would bring success. "Will you have
five chances? No? Then take three, or
even single one. This is the book, and
nearly all of the numbers are taken as
you can see. Win you write your name
on this pager" She proffered pencil and
paper, which the strangely silent gentle
man took, after moments hesitation
and look Of fresh inquiry. At last she
exultantly assured herself that he had
succumbed. He wrote slowly, while she
continued to smile, lest the charm should
be broken before he had fully committed
himself. When he had finished, he
handed to her what he had written. 1t
was this:
Il am deaf and dumb"
Mrsr .oauA norm